Page 20 of Eye Candy

I didn’t see Kelly here yet, which was fine. I was curious about Mike’s brother; I’d love to meet him and see if he was anything like the big man himself.

I tugged on Mike’s arm, having to shout to be heard, “Where’s your brother?” I could hear Kieran rolling his eyes at me, but whatever. I didn’t care. This brother of his I just had to meet. Mike pointed to the metal stairs, and I led us to the bouncer. He only let us pass once Mike gave him a nod.

He did not, however, let Kieran pass, blocking his way once Mike and I were halfway up the stairs. “What the hell, man?” Kieran exclaimed, pointing to me. “I’m with her. Let me up!” In the end, the bouncer refused, which meant Kieran had to wait down there for us. When he shot me an annoyed look, all I could do was shrug. He could keep an eye out for Kelly or something.

Upstairs in the club must be some VIP section or something, because it had tables with round booths lining the side opposite the balcony portion of it. All of the tables were empty, save for the furthest one, where three people sat. A blond girl who was on the lap of someone with loads of tattoos, and another guy with tattoos, sipping on a drink.

The guy sipping the drink set his glass down, elbowing the two who were all over each other. The girl pulled herself off the other, giving me and Mike a smile when she saw us. “Big guy! What are you doing here?” She licked her lips, seemingly uncaring that her dress had gotten pulled down to reveal part of her left nipple.

The man with the drink whispered something to her, and she laughed and adjusted her dress. “Oops. Nip slip. My bad.”She didn’t seem to care too much about flashing Mike and me. The man she’d been making out with gave us both glares, his eyes a pitch-black color, reminding me of Kieran’s stare.

Except Kieran never looked at me quite likethat.

“Lola?” I asked, though I didn’t know why I asked, because it was her. The same one who’d visited me in the hospital, the same one who’d agreed to send Mike.

Lola did a double take. “You’re… you’re Laina, right? The mayor’s daughter? Hot damn, I didn’t recognize you with the hair. It looks great, by the way.” She elbowed the guy she’d been making out with, forcing him to get up and move around the booth to sit next to the other tattooed guy—whose tattoos, I noticed, were all snakes of some kind. She patted the spot the man had just vacated, inviting me to sit.

And so I did. Mike remained standing, looking uncomfortable.

“Nice gloves,” Lola told me, commenting on my choice of black gloves. “They hide it pretty well. So, Laina, what are you doing here?”

“I’m meeting a friend for a night out, but Mike said he saw his brother’s car, and I got curious.”

“Oh, you wanted to meet the big guy’s brother?” Lola giggled. She pointed to the two men sitting on her other side. “Can you guess which one it is?” She leaned toward me, lowering her voice a bit, “Bet you can’t.”

My eyes drifted between the two. They both had a multitude of tattoos, though the one directly on her left was all snakes. They both seemed pretty damn intense, too. The one she’d been making out with was built like Mike, but not nearly as tall, and his eyes and hair were too dark.

I pointed at the guy with the snake tattoos. “Him.”

Lola clapped. “Yes, that’s Viper. I know, I know, they don’t look related. They’re actually twins, though, isn’t that amazing? The other one’s Maddox. That makes three, since you already met Sylvester at your house.”

“Three what?”

She flashed me a set of perfect teeth, and again it struck me then just how gorgeous this woman was. “Boyfriends, silly.”

I couldn’t hide my shock. “You have three boyfriends? I didn’t know you could do that.”

Lola giggled, twirling some of my hair around her finger. “We’re allowed to do whatever we want, Laina. If you want three boyfriends too, all you have to do is find them. Someone cute as a button like you won’t have a problem.”

I didn’t know what made me do it, but I glanced down at my left hand. I wasn’t as gorgeous as Lola, and I had the scars to prove it. No way in hell would I ever be able to juggle three boyfriends at once. No way would three separate guys even want me.

“You know,” Lola spoke, “I might have a guy that could help you out.”

My brows furrowed. “Help me out? How?”

“I don’t really consider him a friend, since I never see the guy, more like an acquaintance, but he’s made me two beautiful works of art that double for practicality. I’m sure he could make you something for your fingers, so you wouldn’t have to wear gloves to hide them.”

“That would be amazing,” I told her.

“I don’t have his information with me right now, but I can send it to you, if you want.” When I nodded eagerly, she turned to Viper, who had her phone out and ready, and handed it overto her. She unlocked the screen and handed it to me. “Give me your number, and I’ll get you Fang’s info tomorrow.”

His name was Fang? Jeez. What was with the weird nicknames?

I gave her my number and handed her the phone back, which she then set on the table before us before turning the full force of her smile back at me. “I’m glad you got out,” she told me. “Here… everyone doesn’t always get their happy ending. You’re a fighter, Laina. I like that. If you ever need anything, and I mean anything, come find me.”

It was the strangest thing. When she’d first come to me in the hospital, I’d disliked her. I hadn’t trusted a single word she’d told me that day, but tonight… tonight I wanted to believe her. Maybe having Mike following me around wouldn’t be so bad, if she was one of the people he worked for.

Lola leaned closer to me, holding my stare with a set of vividly blue eyes. “I need your kidnapper alive to ask him some questions—assuming it’s a him. Knowing nothing about the situation, I’m ninety-nine percent sure it’s a guy. It usually is. Anywho, after I’m done with him, I can let you take a crack at him, if that’s what you want. Making your own justice, giving the bad guys exactly what they deserve… there ain’t nothing like it out there.”

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